UCanDoIT is a charity that teaches people with physical and sensory disabilities a range of computer skills including email, the Internet and basic word processing in their own homes. Over the past 10 years nearly 3,000 learners, with over 80 different disabilities, have learnt with the charity.

UCanDoIT teaches disabled learners from all backgrounds, all age groups and specialises in training individuals using specialist software and hardware. The charity helps disabled people cross the digital divide and gain a higher level of independence.

People who have benefitted from their tuition have gone on to start businesses, write stories, create music, join groups, campaign for causes, try online dating and make friends around the world. Our tutors tell of blind people who for the first time in their lives have the ability to read their own personal letters using a scanner and a screen reader. They also tell of isolated people reaching out not just locally but anywhere in the world to talk to friends, and make new ones, using free programmes such as Skype.

Many disabled people are unable to attend classes, which is why UCanDoIT provides a CRB checked tutor to give them lessons on a one-to-one basis. The charity strongly believes that learning on the same computer that has been specifically tailored to the needs of that disabled individual will ensure a better learning experience and a greater chance of success. It also allows the learner to practice at times that suit them rather than when a learning centre is available.

The charity has 80 CRB checked tutors mainly in and around the Greater London area but has tutors in other parts of the UK including Scotland, Wales, Liverpool, Birmingham and Devon. A proportion of our tutors are themselves registered disabled some of whom started out as learners with the charity and have chosen to join us in our work. David Brown, one of our blind tutors, won the 2008 British Computer Society IT Trainer of the Year Award.

UCanDoIT has won a contract to deliver Level 1 or Level 2 ITQ accredited qualifications to 100 visually impaired/blind or hearing impaired/ deaf learners, over 2 years, across London as part of a Transition to Work project, part funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund and co-financed by the Learning & Skills Council.

As many of these learners are using screen readers the charity created a bespoke unit to cover this which was approved by the BCS and is now being used in the delivery of the ITQ.

UCanDoIT is a registered charity and charges just £5 per lesson for learners on a low income and works on a sliding scale for those on higher incomes. The charity receives no funding from Central Government and very little from local Government and relies on grants and donations to continue its work.